Archive for Dementia Prevention
Brain Exercises Improve Brain Speed In Retirement Community
Can brain exercises improve brain speed? There is no doubt a lot of market hype to demonstrate the benefits of brain training to improve brain performance and to effect a reduction in dementia.
It’s all to clear the cost of dementia is significant for our community and if there is an opportunity to reduce the likelihood of it by 30% what would this mean to the community, to the very precious lives of each and everyone?
The LANCET (2017) showed us you can do something about preventing dementia and at its heart, it appears simple.
The LANCET’s paper shows us the benefit of brain health in action with the potential to prevent dementia in our community.
It’s important to note that “health” is such a subjective and loaded term and skewed by those who spruik it, us, allied health folk included. What’s important is that there are objective measures of brain health and performance to back up program and tool claims in order to help people obtain better brain heath.… .. Click here to read the rest
Can Old Brains Grow?
It’s my son’s 9th birthday this Saturday.
I know – I can’t believe it either.
Too fast, too big – oh my how they change.
I seem to be rolling out every parent’s observation.
What’s interesting about this and the reason I mention this is that since his birth to the time in which he is an adult his brain will double in size.
In his early 20s his brain will weigh about 1.4kg and there will be about 100 billion neurons and over a trillion connections.
But is that it for my future adult son?
Is that it for you as an older adult?
The long standing belief was that the process of aging in the brain is largely a story of deterioration and decline. Key to this theory is that new neurons are not developed beyond mid teens. ( Neurons being the working cell/unit of the brain)
A number of studies have supported this position by finding no evidence of neuron growth in the pre-frontal cortex and other areas, however, it is now emerging despite the strong headwinds of traditional beliefs, there are several areas in the brain that grow new neurons.… .. Click here to read the rest
Fit Bodies At 70 But No Minds!
What Everyone Ought To Know About Preventing Dementia
“My waiting room is filled with 70-year-olds with the bodies of 40-year-olds and no minds” a neurologist was quoted by Maria Shriver (yes the former first Lady of California) who is championing mind health as part of her Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement.
It got me thinking, if their bodies are in great nick why are these people ending up in a neurologist’s waiting room? It’s clear that they have bought into the magic bullet theory.
You know how it goes;
One medication
One amazing plant product
The vitamin to end all vitamins
The key ingredient to prevent “ insert latest issue”
The one exercise above all exercise
The medication to cure……
Yep, you’ve read this all before, and you get it.
We all want it simple, easy, straight forward, but rarely in life is it simple.
Buying into the “one magic bullet ” is going to harm you much like the ladies in the neurologist’s waiting room.
Why?
Because when it comes to Brain Health, your Memory Health, there are so many facets which can impact on your performance.… .. Click here to read the rest
The “MIND” diet for Alzheimer’s prevention offers new insight into the disease management.
Did you know that the foods you eat may have an impact on your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease?
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ― Hippocrates
Evidence found in a study published in the journal “Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association” showed that individuals who consume what is known as the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) could substantially reduce their risk of having Alzheimer’s Disease in the future – and you do not even need to strictly follow the diet to reap its benefits.
In this one particular study from Rush University published in 2015, it was found that participants who rigorously adhered to the MIND diet had a 53 percent lessened risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Those who followed it “moderately well” reduced their risk by 35 percent.
Another study involving over 7,000 women for a period of 10 years measured the effectiveness of the MIND diet. Participants who closely followed the diet guidelines were 34 percent less likely to develop the disease than women who did not.… .. Click here to read the rest
